The Candy Man

Mollie Halpern: A doctor known as “The Candy Man” and his mother are behind bars on health care fraud and other charges.

Blake Brotherton: Doctors hold a position of trust in our society, and that’s why this case was so egregious.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern of the FBI, and this is Gotcha. Dr. Antoine Johnson and his mother, Lawanda, ran four clinics in western Washington. An audit of their Medicaid claims and an investigation revealed that the mother and son were defrauding taxpayers. Special Agent Blake Brotherton says an undercover operation helped break the case…

Brotherton: We learned that Dr. Johnson would bill for a visit that our undercover agent did not go to.

Halpern: The Johnsons also billed for higher level of medical services than what they provided and prescribed narcotics without examining patients. The pair took off to Madagascar after agents conducted a search warrant. The FBI worked with our law enforcement partners to bring them back to the U.S. and to close the case.

Brotherton: With health care being an increasing priority, law enforcement agencies are all teaming up to attack this prevalent problem.